There She Goes!

I was just watching Nora crawl onto the kitchen floor for the first time.

Chasing the cat.

My daughter has so much of me in her (Talkative, Driven, Goofy) but she also is so much her Dad (Sweet, Adventurous, Serious and of course CUTE since it all came from him).

But there's one other thing she has that's ALL Daddy, and that's a penchant for playing with the animals.

It started yesterday while my Mom and Nora were playing on the floor in the living room. I was off doing some other stuff, and Nora got it in her head that it'd be fun to catch the cats.

She crawled off in Jack's direction, and when he disappeared, Nora turned around and looked for him around the couch on the other side.

Bright girl?

Sure, a little. But what made me laugh is that this is a decidedly M. family trait. Teasing, harassing and torturing (in a good way) the pets.
So today, she woke up and got a look at Jack, and off she went! It's much harder to get some tread under her on that slippery kitchen floor, but boy, she made it a ways!

Jack of course, just stands there with his horrified kitty expression until she gets too close, and then he's off again!
Just after I took these pictures, my friend Susan e-mailed that she is expecting TWINS!

Susan and Doug are VERY dear friends from Denver. They lost a daughter at nearly full term several years ago, as we were going through our losses. After more trials, Susan and I were pregnant at the same time with boys -- her son Louis was born in October 2006, after we lost Jacob earlier that summer.

They cried with us, and brought us meals and helped us in our grief LONG after so many other friends forgot or just didn't want to talk about it anymore. Anyone who loses a child late in pregnancy understands how hard it is to get through that kind of loss.

Then their son Louis was born on October 25, the same day my Dad died. Even though I was the only one to think of that date as special, I always thought that was SO cool to have a date that was once sad to have it turn into a day of joy for my friends.

So this morning I opened my e-mail and there was Susan's picture all nice and huge from being halfway through her pregnancy. It's not an easy road for her to be pregnant -- complications abound -- but she walks through fire for her babies, and I have the deepest love and respect for her.

If you are the praying kind, please put Susan, Doug and Louis and those precious babies on your list.

Congratulations Susan and Doug!